The Lambton High school captain had finished his Higher School Certificate exams and was on a schoolies trip in Vanuatu, where he was teaching, singing, dancing and playing games with local children just outside Port Vila.

"I had a kid who was about four or five years old up on my shoulders and he was laughing his head off," Josh, 18, said.

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"I'd been doing this because I love it and it clicked - I could do this and get paid in the future!"

Josh changed his preferences in late November and was one of more than 38,000 university applicants to receive an offer through the Universities Admissions Centre on Monday for study in 2020.

It was the main offer round for year 12 students, although UAC also made 11,500 offers in November through Schools Recommendation Schemes. Some universities also make offers directly.

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"I got a text saying I had received an offer from the University of Newcastle and to check my inbox," he said.

"Then I opened the email saying I was accepted into secondary education. It was a stressful 15 seconds, but exciting."

Josh said he was "pretty calm" on Monday compared to last week, when he received his HSC results and Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 95.25.

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"I was only a little stressed then because I was happy with the work I'd put in throughout the year, so I thought I'd be happy with the ATAR no matter what," he said.

"For year 12 I discovered the secret to school success and it wasn't cramming the night before - it was like running a marathon. You need to keep at it, never stop, just keep the pace up doing work all year around."

Josh had been aiming towards an ATAR of 85 for engineering because he liked science and mathematics, but secondary teaching had consistently been his second choice.

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"There was not any doubt after I made the decision to change," he said. "It was actually the first time I was excited for university, which reinforced I was doing what was right for me."

Josh, who has some teaching and leading experience with Scouts and at Hunter Bible Church, was also inspired by influential teachers, including his maths teachers Margo Freer and Helen Thurn.

Meanwhile Lambton High prefect Lucy Hanks, 18, who received an ATAR of 96.35, also received her first preference: an offer to study a double degree in communications (social and political sciences) and arts in international studies from the University of Technology, Sydney.

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She went online straight away, picked her classes and received her timetable.

"I'm very eager," she said. "Sydney's always been a dream."

She will spend a year studying overseas, hopefully in Germany.

"I'd like to work in politics but not as a politician - maybe around a public figure, as a researcher, organiser or campaign manager."

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